Landline telephones are available in most places. Most telephones are privately owned and thus any telephone calls on a particular line are charged to the telephone subscriber or a monthly or bimonthly basis. Due to accounting complication, it is not always possible or convenient to determine the time and charges for a single telephone call as it is made. Consequently, multiple users on a single phone line can be very awkward.
Also, toll or long distance telephone calls can be very problematic. Long distance calls can be made by charging the call to a local telephone such as for example to a telephone in a hotel room. The long distance call can be made by instant payment such as when using a public payphone. A long distance call can also be made by charging the call to the calling party's home or business telephone or by using a telephone company credit card number. Further, a long distance call can be made as a "collect call" where the called party has to accept the call and is then billed for the time charged for the call.
It is presently known that certain companies (i.e., AT&T, Sprint and others) are offering prepaid cash card calling over their own networks. Generally these services involve allowing access to the provider's network by having the end-user dial an 800 number. A database with account management and real-time-rating capabilities (RATER) tracks the prepaid cash card value and deducts the account as call progression occurs.
The customer acquires a card with a special code, a credit amount and the telephone number of a special central office or "like" facility by either a cash or credit card payment. The code, the credit amount and telephone numbers may be acquired, for example through the regular credit card companies and charged to the acquirer's credit card. Alternatively, the credit amount, the telephone numbers and identifying code can be purchased at sales points such as in airports, hotels, rent-a-car stations and the like. The amount paid is credited to the acquirer for use against future telephone calls. The credited amount is stored in a memory at the special central office or the like, such as a data base or platform, along with the special code.
A party wishing to make a telephone call which may be a local call or a toll call can acquire a prepaid credit amount. He ore, she uses the nearest available telephone, removes the handset and dials a special data base, platform or special central office. When he or she is connected to the data base, platform, special central office or exchange, a special dial tone is sent from the special exchange to the calling station. When the calling party hears the special dial tone, indicating that the computer at the exchange is ready for he or she, he or she dials the identifying code and the called number he or she wants. The computer at the special exchange checks the code and registers the desired called number.
If the code number is a genuine code with credit, a regular dial tone is sent to the calling party station as he or she is connected to the regular telephone system. The computer at the special exchange routes the call on the most economical available lines according to prior arrangements with long distance line suppliers. The calling party's predialed numbers are transmitted. The system can also be arranged so that the calling party dials the called party responsive to receipt of the regular dial tone.
Special exchange equipment such as an intelligent platform can provide an artificial or prerecorded voice announcement stating the amount of credit available and that the amount of credit is equivalent to so many minutes of talking time on the call being connected. The announcement is made according to the charge rate for the distance between calling and called parties.
A credit check can be accomplished contemporaneously with the number code verification. If the code is invalid an announcement is made advising the customer to try again. The customer is allowed a predetermined plurality of tries (for example three) before being disconnected from the special central office. If he or she is trying again for the second and third times he or she is reconnected to receive the special dial tone. After the third time he or she is released from the special exchange after receiving a recorded announcement explaining that the code is not valid.
Conventional systems can operate to allow the calling party to dial while the verification is being accomplished, in which case when the calling party hears normal dial tone, a register in the exchange can then input the dialed information to cause the exchange to complete the call between the calling party and the called party.
A normal time and distance computing circuit such as a peg counter, can be put into service to provide information for timing the call against the available credit. Thus, for example, the information from the peg counter is sent to a comparator to continuously determine whether the calling party's credit is sufficient to pay for the call. When the credit equals the used time rate the call is automatically ended by the computer.
Upon failure to maintain a positive credit level, the connection between the calling and called party opens, the connection to the computer however remains and an announcement is made to notify the customer to insert another code number, if available. If a new code number (with valid credit) is inserted by the customer, then the calling party again receives a dial tone and can dial a new called party. In other words he or she goes back to the input where he or she has computer tone and he or she is told to dial the code number and the calling party number. All the steps are repeated and the new call is connected. If the customer does not have a new code number, then the connection between the computer and the calling party is opened.
The call can also be terminated by the user. When the call is terminated by the user, and he or she still has credit, he or she is again connected to normal dial tone, and he or she merely has to dial another call, if he or she so desires. If he or she does want to dial another call, then he or she returns the handset to the hookswitch. If he or she does want to make another call he or she dials the number after hearing a normal dial tone. Thus, the customer does not have to repeat the entire connection back to the computer and have the validation procedure repeated. He or she had already been checked and validated and therefore he or she is connected to a normal dial tone. The process is repeated as long as positive credit remains.
With a dedicated public telephone, the customer calling party must have a prepaid code number. To begin the operation, he or she goes off hook with the dedicated public telephone. The calling station receives computer dial tones as soon as going off hook. He or she then dials in the secret code number and the system checks to see if he or she has a valid number. If he or she does, he or she is visually or audibly notified of the amount of credit available in his code. If he or she does not have a valid code then he or she is notified that he or she has inserted an invalid code. A recorded message can be sent for this purpose.
If an invalid code is inputted more than a predetermined number of times (three times for example), then the phone is disconnected for a specified time period (for example, five minutes). This disconnection time is implemented to discourage practical jokes, fraud or anybody maliciously trying to tie up the telephone. After the five minute time period, the phone is returned to its normal operating capabilities. A recorded message may be sent to notify potential users that this phone is out of order for diminishing periods of time, i.e., three minutes, four minutes, etc.
After verification of the code number and credit the calling party is connected to the regular telephone system and receives a regular dial tone. The calling party goes through the normal call process. Responsive to his dialing, he or she is given a call duration announcement indicating the length of call time his credit amount will allow. The time change rate of the call this information is continuously computed and subtracted from the credit amount. The call can be terminated either due to lack of credit or by the user. If the user terminates by dialing special code for example or by closing the hook switch when there is still more credit left, the user is then provided with a regular dial tone. If there is no credit left then the calling party phone is connected to the computer and receives the computer dial tone. If he or she does not dial in his code number after a predetermined time period he or she is disconnected. Using an announcement, he or she can be notified to input a code or be disconnected. It should be understood that both announcements and visual indications can be used.
When the code number and credit of a user are verified, the calling party is then connected through a register to a redialer. The register stores the called number received from the calling party and directs the redialer to dial the number after verification, the dialed number or dial tones are directed through router to the regular telephone system. The router selects the best possible route cost-wise for the particular call if it is a toll call.
The dedicated telephone operates in much the same way as the private phone. The difference is in the special computer control used to time the dedicated public telephone.
The calling customer has the ability to disconnect from the called party but stay connected to the special exchange by dialing a special number. This caller can switch to another code number during the call, before the call and after the call and still remain connected to the special central office.
With the dedicated telephone, when the calling party replaces the hand set, the hook switch a short delay (for example ten seconds) take place, an announcement is made to the calling party notifying the calling party that he or she may call another party without calling the computer again within the allocated time delay.
It is known to use special codes, such as 999, to terminate a call. The calling party can then get another call without having to redial the special exchange and his code. Another special code such as 888, can be used to input more credit with another code number.
In order to maintain security on the aforementioned system when the calling party's credit is being checked, it is necessary that the call position in the memory of the controller be supplied with a disenabling code to prevent the simultaneous operation of the two different telephones using the same code. In addition, the codes each have a home memory which other special exchanges can check. This is an appropriate security safeguard for a single card (with its own authorization number) issued to a single individual. The use of only one call (or purchasing operation) at a time for a single card number presupposes that all credit operations are tied to that single card having the single authorization number. Thus, it is the card number rather than a credit authorization number associated with an individual that determines authorization for credit purchases.
There may be other circumstances in which an individual has established credit, either with a telephone company or a credit authorization network, and wishes to allow a number of simultaneous credit purchases to take place (for example, those conducted by other persons having been made privy to the individual's credit authorization). This sort of flexibility is not accommodated in the aforementioned conventional credit arrangements.
Another drawback of conventional telephone credit purchasing systems is that the purchased long distance telephone call is carried out over a predetermined route selected by the operator of the telephone credit operation. The end user has no input regarding which long distance carriers or which routes will be used to carry out the long distance call. Thus, an individual user who has made special arrangements with a particular long distance interexchange carrier is unable to take advantage of such an arrangement when using the conventional telephone credit purchasing arrangements.
It is also noted that conventional telephone credit purchasing arrangements are directed only to the purchase of long distance telephone calls. There is no accommodation for an individual wishing to make a credit purchase over the telephone of other goods or services, even telephone services other than a pre-selected long distance call. Thus, a individual purchaser of conventional art telephone credit cards finds that he or she must go through a separate authorization routine (with its own Personal Identification Number (PIN)) or authorization number. This can be burdensome to the individual user since the additional authorization routine constitutes efforts that must be made in addition to those required for other credit purchases by the end user.
Another drawback of conventional telephone credit systems is that an elaborate credit card is generated for each user. Of necessity, the generation and distribution of conventional telephone cash cards must be severely constrained in order to keep cards from falling into the hands of wrongful users. Thus, a user may have difficulty obtaining the card, refreshing it and carrying out the necessary authorization procedure.
These drawbacks are addressed by the system, with its various embodiments, of the present invention described below.